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Dubb Farrell (left) and Keith Chrisco d ice at Costa Mesa speedway.
Chrisco sizzles at
Costa Mesa
By Scott Daloisio
COSTA MESA , CA, APR. 5
Keith Chrisco came back from
a spectacular crash in his semi
to defeat J im Lawson in a clos e
finish to win the second Scratch
3
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main event of th e seaso n a t th e O range
County Fairgrounds Friday ni ght.
The " Ch risco Kid " was kn ocked
o ff hi s mach ine when Brad Oxley d id
a wh eeI ie an d took Chrisco o u t in th e
sem i. Both qu ickl y remounted with
Oxley winning th e race a nd Chrisco
fini shing seco nd to transfer to th e
main. In th e main , Chrisco drew ga te
three, which is usually a handicap, but
he outdueled Jim Lawson into th e
fir st bend. Keith Larsen and Brad
Oxley immediately moved in right
behind the leaders and looked for an
opening. Lawson tried the inside to
try to get around Chrisco (Arai/ Jones
Goggles/Windlord Wes) but the leader was ab le to o ut drag h im down th e
ch utes. L arsen dri lled Lawson in the
back tire o n the fina l lap as they
exited tu rn two sending Lawson int o
a w heeIie long enough to end any of
his hopes o f carchrng Chrisco . Lawson recovered and saved h imself from
a meeting with th e crashwall and was
able to hold off Larsen [or second.
Chrisco meanwhile showed his happin ess at winning by giving the crowd a
wh eelie demonstration.
Lance King (ST P / Sim p so n/JT/
Scou/Tallon Wes) passed th e leader
on th e last lap to win th e Handi cap
main . Wayne Leutz took th e lead on
th e original go but was kn ocked out
of th e way by "Show time" Bob Ott in
turn one. Leutz was unhappy , but th e
ra ce went on until a red n ag wa s
thrown for Oxley o n lap three. That
a llo wed Leutz a cha nce to restart. H e
again took th e lead and again h e wa s
blasted o u t an d o nt o the ground by
Ott in tu rn one. This time Leutz had
enough and tried to get a t Ott a lter
th e red nag wa s displayed. Fortunately h e was restra ined by h is crew
a n d Ott wa s di squa lifi ed [or th e
incident.
On th e third try. Leutz rode co n sistent ly and continua lly fought of
th e ad va n ces of Chr isco who was trying to slide by on the inside. On lap
[our King, who started on th e 50,
took Chrisco [or second. H e th en set
his sig h ts on L eutz and powered by
on th e inside as they came 0[[ turn
two on the final revolution . Two
turns later King got hi s first main
'. e ent checkered.ofrhe season arCosta
" S howti m e " Bob Ott. Greg Ayrer and Rocky Robinson at Ventura .
Mesa . L eutz held on [or seco nd w ith
Chrisco third .
What is th e fastest thin g in Am eri ca n speed way ? R ookie Doug Ni col's
ri se through th e ranks. Ni col (Pedc o
Eng.lCoast Grain Co.lTay lor Concrete / Pum pi ng/Car Iis le/Oa k ley/
FMF/ Arai / Ascot Th ursd a y Night
Spe edw a y /Bel- R a y / Ch ampi on /
Im m edia te & Associat es/Bat es Wes)
won hi s fourth main even t in [our
pro o u tings wh en he defea ted th e
Seco nd Division bo ys. Ton ig h t he
sta rted o n the 10 and [or a ll intents
a n d p urposes th e race was o ver by th e
en d o f lap o ne. H e simply ra n away
from th e p ack. David H ancock fin ished a di stant seco nd w ith Don Butler
third.
Mik e Maely (R iver Const. & Painta
ing Mae) ende d a seven -year retirement by ta king top hon ors in th e
Third Division main. Jeff J ohnson
took seco nd with Andy J ohnson third.
Results
SCRATCH M AIN ; 1. Keith Chrisco (Wesl ; 2. Jim
Lawson (GM); 3 . Keit h Larsen (Wes); 4 . Brad Oxley
(Wes ).
HAN DICAP: 1. Lance King (Wes ); 2 . We yne Leutz
(Wes); 3. Keith Ch risco (Wes); 4. A lan Ch rist ian
(GM); 5. Brad Oxley (Wes); 6 . Bob 011 (Was l.
SECOND DIV: 1. Doug Nicol (Wes); 2. Dav id Han cock (We.); 3. Don Butl er (Wes); 4 . Jeff J ones
(We.); 5. Rick Vandarham (Mae); 6. Randy Beddow
(J aw).
THIRD DIV: 1. M ike Ma ely (M ael; 2. J eff Jo hn son
(We. ); 3 . Andy Jo h nso n (Jaw); 4 . Greg Nelson
(We.); 5 . J immy Genti le (Jaw); 6 . Lou Kre isberg
(jawI DNS.
Ermolenko steams at
IMS opener
By Scott Daloisio
SAN BERN ARDI N O , CA. APR. 3
.. Sudden" Sam Ermol enko
steamrolled the competition to
win all three of hi s Scrat ch
rides in convincing style a t the
season o pe ner at Inland Mot orcycle
Speedway Wednesda y ni ght.
A large crowd o f fan s wat ch ed as
Ermol enko (Arai / Jones G oggl es/
STP /Q&E /A I R eed ' s P oli shin g /
FrdmeShop/Oakley/ CarTunes/Kal Gard Wes) turned back hi s cha llengers
a ll n ight long to win th e bi ggest paych eck of th e even ing. Erm ol enko
g ra bbed th e lead from th e gat e an d
had Mike Faria, Al an Christ ian and
Steve Lucero in hot pursui t. Ch ristian im me d ia tely went to th e pol e
and began to apply th e fin' to Faria
[or second. Christi an fin all y got by
co rn ing o u t of turn two o n lap IW O ,
but th en ca u g h t some tracti on as h e
exited thru four and almost pil ed
into Faria . Once p a st Faria , Ch ristian set hi s sig h ts o n th e lead er Ermolenko, Christian brush ed Errno len "2~
. kp 's rear ti re as th 'l qJ~ off turn tw o
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o n th e third lap. but th ai was as close
as he cou ld ge t. The night belonged
to Errnolen ko a nd he flash ed across
th e fin ish line fir st , chased by Christia n and Faria . It wa s th e fir st win of
th e yea r [or Ermol enk o , who spe nt
th e 1984 season with th e Pool e Pirates
in th e British League.
R ising star Ma rk Dw yer (Fra n k
Sch ia vo n e C on stru cti on /O ak ley/
Arai ZH air By Bev/Cen e Thurman
R acing /Wes) dominated toni ght 's
H andicap ac tio n by winnin g a ll th ree
of hi s rides from th e 20- yard line.
Aft er beatin g Cra ig Sch a efer a n d
Denn is Briggs o ff th e lin e, Dw yer ra n
away [rom th e field. Sch aefer had hi s
hands [ull a ll th e wa y fighting o ff a
fierce charge by Lucero [or seco n d.
Lucero wa s, in turn , bu sy [ending o ff
th e ch a rges o f Ermolenko to tak e
home th ird pl ace cash .
Ventura ace Wah Farnum (Q 105
Jaw ) made it three stra ig h t wins a t
IMS dating ba ck to last year by capturing the Second Division main.
Farnum got th e gate and got a big
brea k when fel lo w zero yard li ne starter Warren R eid w heelied off the line.
By the tim e Reid recovered Fa rn u m
had a substa n tial lead . Victor R obledo
charged from the back of the pack
and swep t by Reid for secod at the
white nag. He then moved to the out side in an effo rt to catch Farnum at
th e finish lin e, but fell a bikelength
sho rt at th e checkered .
Former Junior Speedway ac e Jordan Duncan (Alan Christian Racing/ STP/ H i-Point / P BIIK&N / Bell /
Champion/Fiberglass Concepts Gdn )
us ed one of Christian 's motors to win
h is fir st -ever Pro main in Third Divisio n ac tion . Duncan p assed O SC
dr
Sa li nas a t th e halfway mark for th e
wi n: Sa li nas held second with R on
Swenson tak ing third.
Dave Bu sby (Bruce Penha ll /Valvo line/ Bell / Oa k ley /Ca re Cu tters /
R oa d & Track /Pa sad en a H onda /
Malcolm Sm ith / F.O .M.) cap tured th e
w in in th e o pe n ing Junior Spe ed way
main even t of th e year. Teammate
Greg H an cock clos ed in on Bu sb y o n
th e Iin al la p and attempted to slide by
o n th e in side in turn three, but Bu sb y
wa s eq u a l to th e ch a lle nge a n d look
the win . H an cock was a cl ose second,
with Bill y Hamill third.
Salinas (Jaw); 3. Ron Sw enson (Wes); 4 .Jeff Jones
(Wesl ; 5 . Lou Kreisb erg (Jaw ); 6 . Valer ie Robledo
(Jaw).
JR : 1. Dave Bu sby ; 2 . Greg Hancock; J . Bill y
Hamill; 4 . Jo sh Larsen ; 5 . Marshall Topping; 6. Kel -
cey Gordon.
Moran. Ott win at
Ventura season opener
By Bill Locey
VENTURA, CA , APR. 2
On a warm Tuesday night, the
survivors of Quaner Beer night
saw Kell y Moran take the
Scratch main - and "Showtime" Bob Ott showed 'e m aga in .
winning th e Handi cap main off the
40-yard lin e.
H andi cap racing was as thrilling
as it is supposed to be - maybe more.
Four o f th e six 50-yard -lin e riders
transferred. and two of them, Lance
Kin g and Mike Faria, won their heats.
Kin g is on a bike tha t is so fas t, that
when he was cau gh t rolling the wrong
way when the tap es flew up, h e sti ll
ma naged to pass all five of his co mpeti tors to win by a mi le. Ott, in hi s
first '85 regu lar season ride, managed
a th ird in his heat , th en hel d off Andy
Northrup to take a seco n d in his sem i
behind " R oc ket R od " Sullivan, who
is perhaps the onl y rider ever to start
in First Division a t a ll three southern
California tra cks.
Th e Handicap co nsy , featuring a
pair of Track Champions (Faria a nd
Steve Lucero) plus the '83 U.S. Pa irs
Champions (Ro b Pfetzing and Sam
Ermolenko). wa s a five -lap mindsnapper with a ll six guys stay ing
within striking di stance of ea ch other
for th e wh ol e race; Pfetzing won it . In
th e m ain , Su ll iva n ourg
ared h is rival s
o ff th e 30-yard line a n d took th e early
lead. Ott bl ew by tw o laps later with
Kin g close behind, but Showrirne
took th e checkered by a bo u t th ree
lengths.
Scratch ra cing wa s such a thrill
that certa inl y m an y are trying to
m ak e up new adj ectives to de scribe it.
Fa st is one word - how els e co u ld
yo u describe a sem i th at featured
Faria, Errno lenko, King and Alan
Christi an? Errnolenko won that one
- a race where everyo ne stayed about
an inch a p art a t 60 mph [or [ou r lap s.
Oxlev dus ted 0[[ Moran one race too
soonto tak e th e other sem i.
In th e Scrat ch main, Errnolen ko
got th e gate a nd took th e lead until
turn four wh en Oxley took him wide,
allowing Moran to ge t the lead by
going o n th e in side. That 's two mains
in two tri es for Moran so far this year
Results
SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Sam Erm olenko (Wesl; 2.
Ala n Christian (Gdn) ; 3. M ike Faria (Jaw); 4 . Stev e
l ucero (Wes) .
HANDICAP; 1. M ark Dwye r (Wes); 2. Craig Schae fer (Jaw) ; 3. Steve lucero (Wes); 4 . Sam Errnolenko
(Wes); 5. Tim McCasland (Wes); 6. Den nis Br iggs
(GM) .
SECOND DIV: 1. Wa lt Farnum (Jaw) ; 2. Victor
Robledo (Wes); 3 . Warren Reid (J aw ); 4 . Rich
Sweaney (W es); 5 . Dave Hancock (Wes); 6 . Jeff
Spr ingman (Wes).
_
THIRD DIV; 1. Jordan Duncan (Gdnl; 2. Oscar
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